Dress form



May 23, 1961 L. N. QUAINTANCE DRESS FORM Filed Dec. 22, 1958 I N V EN TOR. [OVEY /1. @m/A/mA/cf.

ATTOKAIEX ni.n n l United States Patent '0 DRESS FORM Lovey N. Quaintance, '301 E.'An'dy Devine Ave.,

'Kingman, Ariz.

Filed Dec. 22, 1958, Ser. No. 782,317 2 Claims. l. 223-67) This invention pertains to improvements in dress forms and has particular reference to an inflatable dress form.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a dress form which is inflatable and collapsible and adapted to be readily adjusted to the size and shape of a particular person to assure an accurate measurement and fit by dressmakers in making up a ladys dress.

Another object of this invention is to provide an adjustable inflatable dress form which comprises an inflatable form body of yieldable expandable material adapted to receive an adjustable but non-stretchable jacket which jacket is first adjusted to desired size and shape by applying it to a person after which it is removed and applied to the inflatable body which is then inflated to fill out the same to produce a dress form of a shape and size corresponding to the person and to which the dress to be made is fitted during the making thereof. 7

It is a further object to provide in conjunction with the inflatable form body recited above a laced restraint within the inflatable form body acting on the front, rear and shoulder portions of the body to produce a configuration in the body when inflated corresponding to the exact shape of the human form of the person to effect a more accurate form contour for making the dress.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a dress form which embodies a form jacket having expandable and contractable lacings suitably arranged therein for limiting the amount and extent of inflation of the inflatable form body to desired size and shape.

And a still further object is the provision of an adjustable dress form as set forth above which is easy to adjust and move from place to place and at the same time can be deflated and collapsed for storage in a minimum amount of space.

Further features and advantages of this invention will appear from a detailed description of the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the adjustable nonstretchable jacket forming part of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the inflatable form body.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section onthe line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

As an example of one embodiment of this invention there is shown a dress form comprising the jacket member having the neck opening 11, the arm holes 12 and 13 and the bottom opening 14. A zipper 15 is provided from the neck opening 11 to the bottom opening 14 of the jacket to facilitate placement and removal of the jacket on the inflatable form body 16. The jacket 10 is made of non-stretchable material and is provided with a draw-string 17 around the bottom opening 14. Lacings 18 are provided in the back of the jacket from the neck opening 11 down to the bottom opening 14. Lacings are also provided at 20 and 21 across the shoulders of the jacket and further lacings are provided at 22 and 23, all

2,985,344 Patented May 23, 1961 of said lacings being suitably adjusted to the person to whom the jacket is initially adjusted and fitted. After so doing, the zipper 15 is released so that the jacket so fitted is ready to be placed over the inflatable form body 16.

The inflatable form body 16 comprises an expandable rubberized bag or the like having an approximate human form with a bottom closure piece 24, arm hole closure pieces 25 and 26 and the neck opening closure piece 27 1 forming a complete air-tight chamber 13 in the body 16 which may be filled with air from the usual valve stem 28. When the jacket 10 is placed over the form 16 and zipped up at 15, the form 16 is then inflated, the form expands to the extent allowed by the non-stretching jacket so that the jacket and form when inflated simulate substantially the shape of the person to whom the jacket was initially fitted.

It has been found, however, that certain configurations of the persons form and contour could not be fully realized by the above procedure alone. Such shapes as the re-entrant depression 29, Fig. 5, of the backbone of the person could not be accomplished so that the dress form did not agree in this regard with the actual human form upon which the finished dress was finally to be worn, resulting in improper fit and drape of the garment on the actual wearer.

To overcome these difficulties there is provided a pair of tapes 30 and 31 having a series of longitudinally spaced eyelets 32 formed therein. The tape 30 has flaps 33 which are glued, vulcanized or otherwise fixed to the inside surface 34 of the form body 16 extending from the neck closure piece 27 to the bottom closure piece 24. Similarly the tape 31 extends down the inside of the front of the form 16. A series of semi-elastic lacings 35 are passed through the eyelets 32 in the tapes 30, 31 as best shown in Fig. 3 so that when the form 16 is inflated the lacings 35 will provide a yielding limited restraint on the tapes to cause the re-entrant depressions '29 and 36 to form in the backbone area and central bust portions of the form to closely simulate the actual human form. The lacings 35 are of such character as to automatically form the desired depressions 29 and 36 over wide variations of overall size to which the form is inflated.

It is also to be noted that increased exact conformance to humanform is provided for the inflatable form body 16 by providing tapes 37 and 38 in the inside of the form body 16 adjacent the shoulder areas thereof having semielastic lacings 39 passing through eyelets 40 in the tapes '37 and 38, these devices serving to provide proper shoulder shape when the form body 16 is inflated.

While the apparatus herein disclosed and described constitutes a preferred form of the invention, it is also to be understood that the apparatus is capable of mechanical alteration without departing from the spirit of the invention and that such mechanical arrangement and commercial adaptation as fall Within the scope of the appended claims are intended to be included herein.

Having thus fully set forth and described this invention what is claimed and desired to be obtained by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In an adjustable contour dress form, a previously adjusted non-stretchable jacket which has lacing at the side, back, and shoulder areas for adjusting the jacket to the contour of the body, means on the jacket and extend ing the length thereof for facilitating removal of the jacket from the body after adjustment of the lacings, an inflatable air tight hollow form made of resilient sheet material which has the general shape of the human torso upon which the jacket is mounted, a pair of laterally spaced tapes inside said form and disposed in a vertical plane, one of said tapes having a side integral with the form inner surface at the median of the back of the form, and the other tape having a side integral with the form s 2,985,344 p c inner surface at the median of the front of the form, a plurality of vertically spaced eyelets extending along the central portion of the tapes for the length thereof, a continuous semi-elastic lacing interwoven sliding ly through said eyelets and extending backandv forth between said two tapes and disposed inthe vertical plane which extends from the front to the rear of said form, whereby a variable contour rib assembly for the form is provided so that after the form is placed within the jacket and inflated the form configuration is modified to more accurately reproduce the body contour of the body on which the jacket was adjusted.

2. In the adjustable contour dress form as set forth in claim 1, wherein the form has two shoulder sections, a tape member disposed in each shoulder section in a vertical plane and conforming to the cross-sectional outline of the shoulder section, each tape connected along an edge to the inner surface of the form material, eyelets 4 spaced longitudinally along the length of'each tape, and a continuous semi-elasticlacing associated with each tape and interwoven slidingly through said eyelets, whereby each shoulder section more accurately reproduces the shoulder contour of the body on which the jacket was adjusted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 839,431 Smith Dec. 25, 1906 1,066,551 Swallie ..July 8, 1913 1,409,215 Heinzen Mar. 14, 1922 1,889,659 Hofiman Nov. 29, 1932 2,529,125 Barbera Nov. 7, 1950 2,740,565 Wells Apr. 3, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 229,707 Great Britain May 14, 1925 

